"It is beyond wonderful that Peter is a fan of the show and it's beyond flattering that he'd even think about it," Skinner told the Waikato Times.

"I'm absolutely sure that we couldn't afford him but, you know, we can always negotiate. His enthusiasm is just fantastic of course."

Skinner added that the Doctor Who team would "love" to film an episode in Jackson's native New Zealand.

"Of course at some point we'd love to bring Doctor Who down under [but] it won't be possible until at least a year after the 50th anniversary [in 2013]," she explained.

"We are already two-thirds of the way through the shoots of series seven and although we filmed a couple of episodes abroad, [but] I can confirm for the rest of series seven we will be shooting entirely in Cardiff Bay."